


on your shoulder i can reach an endless sky

by awkwardacity



Series: Birthday Fics [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gem Fusion, Gen, I have no idea where this is going, Non-Linear Narrative, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tags to be added, bear with me, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 11:02:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8575816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardacity/pseuds/awkwardacity
Summary: we could build a universe right here,all the world could disappear,wouldn't notice, wouldn't care [snapshots in a pseudo-post-apocalypse, before and after]





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bluesquire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesquire/gifts).



> Happy birthday bae ily so much hope you like this (sorry it's three months late...)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited
> 
> Lyrics from title/blurb: _Uncover - Zara Larsson_

_11 Days After_

They run.

Their feet are always further from the ground than they expect, and they stumble over themselves every so often - only catching themselves from falling due to the infallible balance that Connie's side gives them.

They don't stop until their legs finally give way, body aching from exhaustion, tears burning tracks down their face no matter how hard they wipe them away. They crumple to the ground, only just catching their head a few inches from the sharp rocks that line the road.

They're on the highway that leads out of Beach City; the road, for once, is empty. They can't remember a time before when that was true.

There should be screeching tires, sirens, screams. Something that tells the world that everything has changed.

There isn't even the flutter of a bird's wings. Just the cold, empty silence that reverberates in their ears like the loudest of sounds.

Stevonnie looks at their hands; they shake more than the rest of them.

"What have I _done_?" they whisper. The sudden noise, so quiet, screams in their ears.

Stevonnie leans back until their whole body is rested on the grass, staring up at the sky.

It's early morning, the sun only just rising, and the horizon burns a brilliant orange-pink. It's going to rain today, they think absentmindedly.

The light beats down as if nothing has changed. The earth revolves, the sun tracks through the sky, people live their lives.

Most of them.

Rose Quartz's blade rests uncomfortably between their shoulders, but they make no attempt to move. They're _tired_. They can't remember if Connie or Steven has had a good night's sleep in months - and with all the running, and the terror and adrenaline pumping through their system in the last few days, they wouldn't mind sleeping for the next three days straight.

So that's what they do; they sleep - and the tears don't stop until their eyes finally close.

* * *

When they wake, the world is bathed in the silver of a full moon. Their eyes and head ache like hell, and when they sit up the world slants at dangerous angles - but everything rights itself in moments.

They have no idea how much time has passed - no more than a day, they think - _hope_ \- though time seems to run differently, faster, when Connie and Steven fuse.

That gives them a start. _They're still fused_. Checking their body just to be sure, they're not sure how to react: they've been fused overnight. That's never happened before. What if they can't unfuse?

A warmth spread in Stevonnie's chest as they imagine Connie and Steven, the two parts that make them whole, twined so inextricably that they don't know where one of them ends ans the other begins. This is what it's like to feel whole, something they never thought they'd feel again - why would they _want_ to unfuse?

Behind their eyes rage fires and sharp edges and pain, the last lingering remnants of life as they knew it. Their hands clench, and they curl in on themselves, as if maybe doing so might push their broken pieces close enough together that they can believe themselves to be fixed. Just thinking about it hurts.

_Breathe_ , they think. _What would Pearl say?_

_Pearl would probably tell me to brush my hair_ , they answer themselves. She _would_. Their hair has come loose from it's braid in the chaos of the last few days, and strands blind them and tangle in their mouth as they float lazily across their face, carried by the breeze.

Inch by inch, they uncurl. There are deep crescent-shaped marks on the palms of their hands. Their muscles scream in protest - maybe they _have_ been asleep longer than a day - as they stretch out.

Shakily, they tug the hairband from the end of their hair and begin carding through the strands with their fingers. It takes forever with such thick hair, but the rhythm grounds them, keeps their thoughts on the task at hand rather than... other things. Once they're satisfied, they begin the braid carefully, painstakingly. It has to be perfect. For Pearl.

Shattered fragments dance behind their eyelids, and they want to throw up.

They have something of each of the gems. A perfect braid for Pearl; Rose's sword, which has left bruises on their back which twinge at every movement; Garnet's glasses, the left half splintered but not quite broken, atop their head; the wrapper of the last cookie cat Steven and Amethyst ate together rustles in their pocket. Each makes them feel hollow and aching, yet comforted. This is all they have left.

The wind picks up, attempting in vain to pick up their braid and play with it. The smell of smoke and burning clogs their nose; they wretch.

They can't stay here, and they certainly can't go back.

Their eyes linger for a brief moment on the horizon, on the grey clouds still curling up from the debris of their home.

Stevonnie turns, and they don't look back.

**Author's Note:**

> Style inspired by civilorange's _"i will make you queen of everything you see"_
> 
> Come hang with/talk with/prompt me at [edelwoodsouls on tumblr](https://edelwoodsouls.tumblr.com), I'm always free to chat :)


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